Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [76]
one, and the first successful one in Ohio. The woman had a uniformly contracted pelvis whose anteroposterior diameter was about 1 1/4 inches. The hygienic surroundings for the operation were not of the best, as the woman lived in a cellar. Tait's method of performing the operation was determined upon and successfully performed. Convalescence was prompt, and in three weeks the case was dismissed. The child was a female of 7 1/2 pounds which inherited the deformities of its mother. It thrived for nine and a half months, when it died of angina Ludovici. Figure 15 represents the mother and child.
Harris gives an account of an operation upon a rachitic dwarf who was impregnated by a large man, a baby weighing 14 pounds and measuring 20 inches being delivered by the knife. St. Braun gives the account of a Porro-Cesarean operation in the case of a rachitic dwarf 3 feet 10 inches tall, in which both the mother and child recovered. Munde speaks of twins being delivered by Cesarean section. Franklin gives the instance of a woman delivered at full term of a living child by this means, in whom was also found a dead fetus. It lay behind the stump of the amputated cervix, in the culdesac of Douglas. The patient died of hemorrhage.
Croston reports a case of Cesarean section on a primipara of twenty-four at full term, with the delivery of a double female monster weighing 12 1/2 pounds. This monster consisted of two females of about the same size, united from the sternal notch to the navel, having one cord and one placenta. It was stillborn. The diagnosis was made before operation by vaginal examination. In a communication to Croston, Harris remarked that this was the first successful Cesarean section for double monstrous conception in America, and added that in 1881 Collins and Leidy performed the same operation without success.
Instances of repeated Cesarean section were quite numerous, and the pride of the operators noteworthy, before the uterus was removed at the first operation, as is now generally done. Bacque reports two sections in the same woman, and Bertrandi speaks of a case in which the operation was successfully executed many times in the same woman. Rosenberg reports three cases repeated successfully by Leopold of Dresden. Skutsch reports a case in which it was twice performed on a woman with a rachitic pelvis, and who the second time was pregnant with twins; the children and mother recovered. Zweifel cites an instance in which two Cesarean sections were performed on a patient, both of the children delivered being in vigorous health. Stolz relates a similar case. Beck gives an account of a Cesarean operation twice on the same woman; in the first the child perished, but in the second it survived. Merinar cites an instance of a woman thrice opened. Parravini gives a similar instance. Charlton gives an account of the performance carried out successfully four times in the same woman; Chisholm mentions a case in which it was twice performed. Michaelis of Kiel gives an instance in which he performed the same operation on a woman four times, with successful issues to both mother and children, despite the presence of peritonitis the last time. He had operated in 1826, 1830, 1832, and 1836. Coe and Gueniot both mention cases in which Cesarean section had been twice performed with successful terminations as regards both mothers and children. Rosenberg tabulates a number of similar cases from medical literature.
Cases of Cesarean section by the patient herself are most curious, but may be readily believed if there is any truth in the reports of the operation being done in savage tribes. Felkin gives an account of a successful case performed in his presence, with preservation of the lives of both mother and child, by a native African in Kahura, Uganda Country. The young girl was operated on in the crudest manner, the hemorrhage being checked by a hot iron. The sutures were made by means of seven thin, hot iron spikes, resembling acupressure-needles, closing the peritoneum and skin. The wound healed in eleven days, and the mother
Harris gives an account of an operation upon a rachitic dwarf who was impregnated by a large man, a baby weighing 14 pounds and measuring 20 inches being delivered by the knife. St. Braun gives the account of a Porro-Cesarean operation in the case of a rachitic dwarf 3 feet 10 inches tall, in which both the mother and child recovered. Munde speaks of twins being delivered by Cesarean section. Franklin gives the instance of a woman delivered at full term of a living child by this means, in whom was also found a dead fetus. It lay behind the stump of the amputated cervix, in the culdesac of Douglas. The patient died of hemorrhage.
Croston reports a case of Cesarean section on a primipara of twenty-four at full term, with the delivery of a double female monster weighing 12 1/2 pounds. This monster consisted of two females of about the same size, united from the sternal notch to the navel, having one cord and one placenta. It was stillborn. The diagnosis was made before operation by vaginal examination. In a communication to Croston, Harris remarked that this was the first successful Cesarean section for double monstrous conception in America, and added that in 1881 Collins and Leidy performed the same operation without success.
Instances of repeated Cesarean section were quite numerous, and the pride of the operators noteworthy, before the uterus was removed at the first operation, as is now generally done. Bacque reports two sections in the same woman, and Bertrandi speaks of a case in which the operation was successfully executed many times in the same woman. Rosenberg reports three cases repeated successfully by Leopold of Dresden. Skutsch reports a case in which it was twice performed on a woman with a rachitic pelvis, and who the second time was pregnant with twins; the children and mother recovered. Zweifel cites an instance in which two Cesarean sections were performed on a patient, both of the children delivered being in vigorous health. Stolz relates a similar case. Beck gives an account of a Cesarean operation twice on the same woman; in the first the child perished, but in the second it survived. Merinar cites an instance of a woman thrice opened. Parravini gives a similar instance. Charlton gives an account of the performance carried out successfully four times in the same woman; Chisholm mentions a case in which it was twice performed. Michaelis of Kiel gives an instance in which he performed the same operation on a woman four times, with successful issues to both mother and children, despite the presence of peritonitis the last time. He had operated in 1826, 1830, 1832, and 1836. Coe and Gueniot both mention cases in which Cesarean section had been twice performed with successful terminations as regards both mothers and children. Rosenberg tabulates a number of similar cases from medical literature.
Cases of Cesarean section by the patient herself are most curious, but may be readily believed if there is any truth in the reports of the operation being done in savage tribes. Felkin gives an account of a successful case performed in his presence, with preservation of the lives of both mother and child, by a native African in Kahura, Uganda Country. The young girl was operated on in the crudest manner, the hemorrhage being checked by a hot iron. The sutures were made by means of seven thin, hot iron spikes, resembling acupressure-needles, closing the peritoneum and skin. The wound healed in eleven days, and the mother